CXXXVII. SERM. If we confider the mind of man yet nearer, how. many arguments of divinity are there in it! That there should be at once in our understandings diftinct comprehenfions of fuch variety of objects; that it fhould pafs in its thoughts from heaven to earth in a moment, and retain the memory of things paft, and take a profpect of the future, and look forward as far as eternity! Because we are familiar to our felves, we cannot be ftrange and wonderful to our felves; but the great miracle of the world is the mind of man, and the contrivance of it an eminent inftance of GoD's wisdom. 2. Confider man with relation to the univerfe, and you fhall find the wisdom of GoD doth appear, in that all things are made fo useful for man, who was defigned to be the chief inhabitant of this vifible. world, the guest whom Goo defigned principally to entertain in this houfe which he built. Not that we are to think, that God hath fo made all things for man, that he hath not made them at all for himself, and poffibly for many other uses than we can imagine; for we much over-value ourselves, if we think them to be only for us; and we diminish the wifdom of God, in restraining it to one end; but the chief and principal end of many things is the use and fervice of man; and in reference to this end, you fhall find that God hath made abundant and wife pro-ifion. More particularly we will confider man, 1. In his natural capacity, as a part of the world. How many things are there in the world for the fervice and pleasure, for the ufe and delight of man, which, if man were not in the world, would be of little ufe? Man is by nature a contemplative creature, and God hath furnished him with many objects to ex ercise his understanding upon, which would be fo SER M. far ufelefs and loft, if man were not. Who fhould obferve the motions of the ftars, and the courfes of thofe heavenly bodies, and all the wonders of nature? Who should pry into the fecret virtues of plants, and other natural things, if there were not, in the world a creature endowed with reafon and un derstanding? Would the beafts of the field study aftronomy, or turn chymifts, and try experiments in nature? be of little other CXXXVII. What variety of beautiful plants and flowers is there! which can be imagined to ufe but for the pleasure of man. not been, they would have loft their grace, and been trod down by the beafts of the field, without pity or obfervation; they would not have made them into garlands and nofegays. How many forts of fruits are there which grow upon high trees, out of the reach of beafts! and indeed they take no pleasure. in them. What would all the vast bodies of trees I have ferved for, if man had not been to build with them, and make dwellings of them? Of what ufe would all the mines of metal have been, and of coal, and the quarries of ftone? Would the mole have admired the fine gold? Would the beasts of the forest have built themfelves palaces, or would they have made fires in their dens? I 2. Confider man in his geographical capacity, as may call it, in relation to his habitation in this or that climate or country. The wifdom of God hath fo ordered things, that the neceffities of every country are fupplied one way or other. Egypt hath no rains: but the river Nilus overflows it, and makes it fruitful. Under the line, where there are exceffive heats, every day there are conftant gales and breezes 13 CXXXVII. SERM. breezes of cool wind, to fan and refresh the fcorched inhabitants. The hotter countries are furnished with materials for filk, a light light cloathing; we that are cooler here in England, with materials for cloth, a warmer clothing; Ruffia and Mufcovy, which are extreme cold, are provided with warm furs, and fkins of beafts.. 3. Confider man in his capacity of commerce and intercourse. Man is a fociable creature; befides the advantages of commerce with remoter nations, for. fupplying every country with thofe conveniencies and commodities, which each doth peculiarly afford. And here the wifdom of GoD does plainly appear, in difpofing the fea into feveral parts of the world, for the more speedy commerce and intercourfe of feveral nations. Now if every country had brought forth all commodities, that had been needlefs and fuperfluous, because they might have been had without commerce; befides, that the great encouragement of intercourse among nations, which is fo agreeable to human nature, would have been taken away: if every country had been, as now it is, deftitute of many things other countries have, and there had been no fea to give an opportunity of traffick! the world had been very defective as to the use of man. Now here appears the wisdom of GoD, that the world, and all things in it, are contrived for the best. Thus I have endeavoured to do fomething towards the difplaying of GOD's wifdom in the workmanship of the world; although I am very fenfible how much I have been mastered and oppreffed by the greatness and weight of fo noble an argument. For "who can declare the works of GOD! and who can "fhew forth all his praife!" The ufe I fhall make of what has been faid, fhall be in three particulars. CXXXVII, 1. This confutes the Epicureans, who impute the SER M. world, and this orderly and beautiful frame of things to chance. Thofe things which are the proper effects of counfel, and bear the plain impreffion of wisdom upon them, ought not to be attributed to chance. What a madness is it to grant all things to be as well made, as if the wifeft agent upon counfel and defign had contrived them; and yet to afcribe them to chance! Now he that denies things to be fo wifely framed, muft pick holes in the creation, and fhew some fault and irregularity in the frame of things, which no man ever yet pretended to do. Did ever any anatomist pretend to fhew how the body of man might have been better contrived, and fitter for the uses of a reasonable creature than it is; or any aftronomer to rectify the course of the fun? As for the extravagant and blafphemous fpeech of Alphonfus, "that if he had ftood at GoD's elbow "when he made the world, he could have told him "how to have made it better;" befides his pride, it fhews nothing but his ignorance; that he built his aftronomy upon a falfe hypothefis, as is generally believed now by the learned in that science; and no wonder he found fault with the world, when he miftook the frame of it: but those who have been most versed in nature, and have most pried into the fecrets of it, have most admired the workmanship both of the great world, and the lefs. But if we must suppose the world to be as well made as wisdom could contrive it, which is generally granted; it is a monftrous folly to impute it to chance. A man might better fay, Archimedes did not make any of his engines by fkill, but by chance; and might more eafily maintain, that cardinal Richlieu did not manage affairs by any art or policy, I 4 but SERM. but they fell out by mere chance. What pitiful CXXXVII. fhifts is Epicurus put to, when the best account he can give of the world is this; "that matter always 66 66 was, and the patts of it in motion, and after a great many trials, the parts of matter at length hampered themfelves in this fortunate order where"in they now are; that men, at first, grew out of "the earth, were nourished by the navel-string, and "when they were strong enough, broke loofe and "weaned themselves; that the noftrils were made by the waters making themselves a paffage out "of the body; and the stomach and bowels by the "waters forcing a paffage downward; that the "members of the body were not made for those "ufes for which they ferve, but chanced to be fo, "and the ufes afterwards found out." Is it worth the while to advance fuch fenfeless opinions as these, to deny the wisdom of GoD? Is it not much eafier, and more reasonable to fay, that the wifdom of GoD made all these things, than to trouble ourselves to imagine how all things fhould happen thus conveniently by chance? Did you ever know any great work, in which there was variety of parts, and an orderly difpofition of them required, done by chance, and without the direction of wisdom and counfel? How long time might a man take to jumble a fet of four and twenty letters together, before they would fall out to be an exact poem; yea, or to make a book of tolerable fenfe, though but in profe? How long might a man fprinkle oil and colours upon canvas, with a carele's hand, before this would produce the exact picture of a man? And is a man eafier made by chance, than his picture? He that tells me that this great and curious frame of the world was made by chance, I could much more believe him, |